DO YOU THINK THE EXPLORE PARK WILL HAVE ANY BENEFITS FOR THE CITY? IF NOT,

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, February 17, 1992                   TAG: 9202170053
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
DO YOU THINK THE EXPLORE PARK WILL HAVE ANY BENEFITS FOR THE CITY? IF NOT,
Musser: "Yes, I think it will benefit the city now [because it has been scaled down and the proposed hotel and conference center have been eliminated]. Originally, the Explore Park was not planned to keep the city's interests in mind. [The hotel and conference center at Explore would have competed with the city's efforts to reopen Hotel Roanoke]. We don't have a beach, we are not a Williamsburg and we don't have the state Capitol here to attract tourists. I think Explore will be a benefit in that regard. We want the Explore Park and the city to complement each other. I don't know if there is anything we can do for it now. We don't have the tax money now to invest in Explore, but I think we should encourage support for it by private sources and foundations."
\ Bowers: "I think [environmental director] Rupert Cutler is trying to get Explore redirected in the way it should be. I never did like the idea of the flume ride and the grand hotel and the other grandiose ideas of Explore. I thought Explore was a great drain on the focus of Roanokers.
"I understood a long time ago we traded off the horse center in Lexington for Explore and I thought that was a terrible trade. I would have preferred over the years to have that money coming into other projects. I've lost that battle. I hope now I can try to refocus the city's interest on the downtown Transportation Museum, which we've had for almost 30 years, the Rescue Museum, Center in the Square, the Hotel Roanoke.
"I think Explore as a park, an environmental study area - obviously, the commonwealth now owns the land, it's not going to give up the land, it's a beautiful site. And I think under the direction of Rupert Cutler - who I've become impressed by in the several times I've met with him - I think he's going to redirect Explore.
"I've always thought if we're going to have Explore - and we are - we ought to have as direct a route into the city as possible. I had hoped with the expansion of 116 to the lake - that's a long-term plan to improve that lake access through Mount Pleasant and over Windy Gap Mountain - and with the four-laning of 13th Street along Riverland Avenue, that that would be a better access to Explore."

What do you think of Mill Mountain Zoo's expansion plans? Should the city do anything to help the zoo reach its goals?
\ Musser: "The city will have to help the Mill Mountain Zoo now that we know Explore is not going to be a zoo. I have recently become a member of [Mill Mountain Zoo's] board of directors and I'm 100 percent sold on it. I will encourage the city to help invest in the zoo. We need to work to improve it. We need to do a little more advertising in urging people who come to the zoo to consider visiting other attractions in the valley. Maybe we could put brochures and other things at the zoo to help persuade people to seek other things after they go to the zoo."
\ Bowers: "I like [director] Beth Poff and her staff and I think we should have a first-class zoo. But over the years I think the zoo and the improvements to the zoo have been shunted aside because of Explore. There's another clear example. I would have taken the millions of money we put into Explore and put it on the top of Mill Mountain and improve our zoo.
"I think their expansion plans are realistic. I don't, nor do the people of Roanoke in a survey, want the top of the mountain turned into an amusement park. But I think they have a very acceptable proposal. There is a lot of land on the back side of Mill Mountain that is completely inaccessible [where the zoo is proposing to expand] and I'd like to see us develop some trails and things like that as well.
"I would say . . . as mayor I'd make my first priority among museums the downtown Transporation Museum. I think we need to get that up and running. I'm sorry we're losing [executive director] Stan Brosky down to Vermillionville [a living-history park in Louisiana]. That museum moved out of Wasena Park after the flood and I don't know it's really ever regained its momentum. I want to, I was trying to use a railroad analogy, I want to pump some steam into that Transportation Museum."

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB